Ventura - Day 2

Sunday morning dawned with an even thicker marine layer than the day before. Our plan, and like all plans eventually meets reality, was to ride south on PCH to Oxnard, and back...about 24 miles in all. The day before Elaine's rear tire had gone flat. This is a continuation of a problem encountered over a month ago when we rode several miles on a bike path that apparently had a lot of thorns and stickers which eventually ended up in our tires. Elaine's tires being older than mine, are a little thinner, and more suceptable to puncture....well another thorn we had missed punctured her tube again on this morning only about 2 miles south of the RV park. The picture below was taken just south of the Ventura pier immediately after I had repaired her tire again. While repairing the tube I discovered a large slice in her tire which made riding so far really a bad idea with such a badly damaged tire, so we turned around and determined to just take a short tour of downtown Ventura and share some pictures with our readers. Ventura is really a quaint oceanside community, and we always enjoy our visits here several times a year.

Just after repairing Elaine's tube....

The Ventura pier as it disappears into the overcast.....

Statue of Father Serra....he built 21 missions along the California coast



The beautiful Ventura City Hall....formerly a county courthouse

The current incarnation of the Ventura Mission....the original site and mission were/are to the left of this current building. The original mission no longer exists.

The view from south of the mission

Looking eastward on Main Street....Ventura old town

After returning from our brief jaunt around downtown Ventura we lowered the top on the Thunderbird and headed north on Highway 101 toward Pismo Beach to have lunch. Once we escaped the vortex of Ventura the sky turned blue and the temperature rose into the low 70's. It turned out to be a great day for a 200 mile drive with the top down.

We had lunch at "Steamers" in Pismo Beach

We arrived in Pismo around 3pm for a late lunch at Steamers.....this reastaurant for many, many decades was known as Trader Nick's......we used to eat there when we stayed at the Kon Tiki Inn (see picture below) on our numerous trips there in the 70's and 80's. This was a favorite destination of my father.

Our view from the restaurant

The ever lovely Elaine.....waiting for lunch

We have stayed here many times over the years...

A late 1980's wide body Newell

On our way home from Pismo Elaine spied another Newell (man she has got good eyes...she was driving at the time and saw it.....I did not see it until she pointed it out) parked along the beach just north of Carpenteria. The owners were not in at the time, so I took a couple of pictures. This coach is in beautiful condition, and shows obvious pride of ownership.

We arrived back in Ventura to the heavy, cold marine layer just in time to light a fire and settle in for a relaxing evning.

My view.............